Anyone going to Thought Bubble Comic Convention in Leeds? This is the second year it's run (EDIT: or not apparently!), and all reports say it's a great convention. I didn't go last year, but the organisers I've been talking to this year seem to be really on the ball :) I'll be around signing, sketching, selling copies of Signal and Freakangels, and on a panel about Digital Comics at 10:30. Hope some of you can make it!

Heading all the way up from Rome for it! (I normally live in the US, but I'm in Rome for classes.) I also have a day to kill in town beforehand, so any suggestions as to where to meet up/drink is appreciated.

Depends where you are. If you're in central Leeds (near the Fab Cafe and Millenium Square venues), the Angel off Briggate is the best pub in the centre and it's cheap as chips. Could also try the Whitelocks or the Victoria Hotel. The Angel and Whitelocks are just down from Thornton's Arcade which contains the best comics shop in Leeds, OK Comics!

If you're in LS6 for the Hyde Park Picture House venue, the Brudenell Social Club is a diamond live music venue although extraordinarily changeable in quality. There aren't that many good pubs that way, although Headingley and all its bars is a hop and a skip away, chock full of tottering fake-tanned pashmina-toting students as it is. If you do end up in Headingley, go straight past all the bars and up the Otley Road to the Arndale Centre, where there is a great little bar called Arcadia, which serves a superb selection of continental beers. There's also Brett's, the best fish and chip shop in Yorkshire (if not England) nearby.

I'm going to be there. I only live in Manchester so I'm getting the train across in the morning and staying overnight so I can have a beverage or thirty. I've not got a table or anything but will have some copies of The Dead Queen Detectives to sell, but mostly I shall just be seeing friends and finding new stuff. It was a great time last year and sounds like it's just getting bigger and better this year.

Hello @Ginja. I've never had to park a car in Leeds (lived there as an impoverished student innit) but I believe there's parking by the Kirkgate market in the city centre. Don't know how cheap it might be, though.

@ebullientsoul I would say Hifi or Wire are the two safe bets in terms of clubs. If you fancy just a bar, Nation of Shopkeepers is good fun if posey. Sandinista used to be quite good but can be quite hard to find. On that subject, if you're planning to visit the Angel, it is really hard to find even if you're looking for it. It's down a wee alley by the Fat Face shop.

Con was great. No exaggeration. I went to three panels and learned lots from each of them.

Phonogram dance party, however, was the highlight of the day/24 hour span, between dancing, talking to random people who said hello who are now friends and high five-ing Kieron Gillen for NaNaNaNa. Oh: Best purchase was Signal. I didn't know I needed it and was initially disappointed (less than 20 pages?), but the intricate layout and vivid colors made up for it.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I ended up falling asleep on Thursday night after getting in at no joke, 3 a.m., (thanks Jet2!). Even though I'll be in the US for the foreseeable future, it's hard for me to think of missing Thought Bubble 2011.